Pixamid Shares Photos While Keeping Privacy and Security in Mind

* Update: 4/12/11 – The developer has notified us that the app needs to be re-tweaked with Facebook’s api. We will keep you updated as soon as the app has restored functionality.

If you want an easy way to share photos directly from your iPhone, download the free app Pixamid. Pixamid is an effort to revitalize the world of immediate photo sharing, and photos taken using the app are promptly uploaded to a private Facebook album. People tagged in the photos have access to the photos, and, unlike competing apps such as Color, Pixamid keeps your photos private unless you want them otherwise accessible. It also has a format that makes it a bit easier to understand. Although it lacks an easy way to transfer the photos to the phone directly, Pixamid is an interesting social experiment with simple photo-sharing.

Controls:

On occasion I had some problems with the app temporarily failing, however, the controls were simple to understand and easy to access. At first, it was difficult to tell whether the camera button would directly take a photo or not, but the only problem resulting from this issue was several accidental photos, which were easily erasable.

Graphical Layout:

Pixamid

The layout of this iPhone app was fairly similar to the built-in iPhone camera, lending itself to easy usage and only a small learning curve. However, with the larger camera button, I found the layout to be an improvement from the shutter button on the normal iPhone camera. The black-and-white buttons and the colored, miniature versions of the Facebook profile pictures used to show people tagged in the photo were visually pleasing and well-designed.

Ease of Use:

Initially, this application’s purpose is initially difficult to understand; it takes some determination to read about it and learn the intended purpose. Without other users on their own iPhones also possessing the app, a private Facebook album seems fairly useless. I eventually began to understand how the app functioned, but trying to figure out why it was necessary to have and to convince my friends to join was not as simple. I think the application’s best use comes from a group of iPhone users in a place they want to have photos together from (e.g. a party, a theme park, etc.). When this occurs the functionality of the app, and most importantly, the security and privacy, which is lacking in other competitors, truly shines.

Value:

As a free app, Pixamid is a great option in the photo sharing realm. Because it is free, Pixamid is easier to convince friends to download and try out than any app with a price commitment. With a solid and enhanced graphical interface, as well as bolstered security features, Pixamid may indeed garner significant market share within this space.

Pixamid iPhone app [ iTunes Link ] requires iOS 4.1 or later and is compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. A small expedite fee was paid by the developer to speed up the publication of this review.